"I went to a place to eat. It said 'breakfast at any time.' So I ordered french toast during the Renaissance". --Steven Wright ... If you are a devotee of time travel, check out this song...

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Celebrating Prester John

For some reason, I was thinking of Prester John today. He was said, in the Middle Ages, to rule over a kingdom somewhere in the East, or at least somewhere not in Europe. He was reputed to have magical instruments, most amazing among them his "speculum," through he see could every one of his near and distant provinces. Like on television...

Scholars were caught up in this legend, and began calling their surveys and encyclopedias "specula" - speculum literature. There was a speculum of history, of astronomy, of alchemy, of morals. Even a speculum on fools.

Prester John's speculum, in other words, had expanded in its powers, to encompass not only the physical world but the realm of ideas. You know, like the Internet...

But does it matter what we call our wondrous devices today? Whether television, or Internet, or iPhone, what matters is they are real.

Our technology has taken us from the realm of myth to what we can keep on tables, or desks, in our very hands.

That's progress worth celebrating.






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2 comments:

dawn said...

Hey Paul, interesting post. I am assuming because it is summer that you are slow to post your regular recap - Big Love and the Weeds premiere. I know you wrote a little post before it was shown but I wanted your take on Weeds, as for me I laughed my ass off. I think it is so good , the kevin nealon scenes hilarious. Oh and Dexters coming back in Sept. Now all we need is Lost

Paul Levinson said...

:) Weeds is right here, Dawn - http://paullevinson.blogspot.com/2007/08/weeds-is-back.html

I was a good correspondent, and put it up even before the show (I have an advance copy)...

You probably got so excited about my Californication post that you missed the Weeds (actually, I think the Californication premier was excellent).

But I promise to have a Big Love post soon - tonight...

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